The Culinary Trail

One of the things we like to do is to try the "food of the city".   Many of the cities and regions in our country have items that are either unique to that area, or at least strongly identified with a particular place.   Think of Philadelphia cheesesteak, Chicago style pizza, hot dogs and italian beef, Buffalo chicken wings and the like.   So when we were in Pittsburgh we checked out the local fare.   They have something called a Pittsburgh style sandwich.  Originally made famous by a local restaurant called Primanti Brothers.   Primanti Brothers has been serving up these "delicacies" since 1933 and has locations all around Pittsburgh and a few in Florida.    Being traditionalists we headed for the original home of the Pittsburgh style sandwich at their first location.   I could wax poetic about this place for pages.   None of it would be true, but I could.   The location was a bit sketchy.  The restaurant was a dump.  More a bar with a room added on and very heavy with "atmosphere".   The service was somewhere between horrible and rude. Unfortunately those were the highlights of the visit to Pittsburgh culinary heaven.   A Pittsburgh style sandwich is meat (your choice) with coleslaw, a thin slice of tomato,  and greasy french fries all loaded on a thick slice of crusty white bread and covered by a second slice of the same tasteless bread.   The recommended meat choice is "Angus Strip" steak.   I believe the strip they picked came from the hide.   The other choices were ground meat, pastrami, knockwurst, tuna fish and many others.   As you are probably guessing, I was not overly fond of this creation.   It was TERRIBLE.   The best part was......There was no best part.   I have a picture below.

Trust me - it is not as tasty as it looks.
Coach's comment: Served on sheets of paper, not plates. Part of the "charm".

The next place we stopped on our culinary tour was Delaware, OH.   It is sort of on the way from Pittsburgh to Detroit by way of the Hall of Fame in Canton and a stop we needed to make near Delaware for the Coach to meet with someone for work.   Delaware, and Columbus in general, does not have a food that is special to the city, but anyone who goes through Ohio has to have heard of Skyline Chili.   As it happens there was a Skyline chili near where we were camped and so off to try this staple we went.   Now I am not going to tell you that Skyline chili is the finest thing I have eaten.  I am not totally sure I even like the sweet chili flavor they have, though cinnamon in your chili is an interesting twist.  (Note they won't confirm that there is cinnamon in their secret recipe, but it certainly tastes like there is.)  What I will tell you is that it is a satisfying meal and if someone told me that was where we were going for dinner I would not say no.   What I will also tell you is I have never been to a restaurant anywhere that took better care of me, was more interested in having me as a customer or provided better service then this Skyline Chili.  From the cherry hello when we walked in the door, to the enthusiastic way they explained to the "5 way chili virgins" their menu, to the service from the waitress, the manager coming over to see how we liked our first experience all the way to the thank you and come back to see us at the end it was a delightful experience.  

Now one of the most interesting things about Skyline is that if this is your first visit, and you take their recommendation to order one of the house specialties, that item is on the house.  Since we ordered the 4-way and 5-way chili  and a pair of coney dogs, our tab for that, and our drinks, was zero.  All we paid for were the exceptional funnel cake fries we had for desert.  They also give you a goody bag with some of their stuff to take with you.   I was already over the top about the great service we were getting and so this was just the frosting on the cake if you will, but it made me want to figure out a way to come back on one of the other trips to stop in again.    The end result is that the total bill for the two of us was under $3 for our meal.   And if there is anyone I can tell about Skyline I will.   The experience was that great and we were made to feel that welcome.  

Now when I contrast the Skyline experience with the Primanti Brothers experience.  Well lets just say there is only one of them I would ever consider sending anyone I know to visit.   I don't even dislike Packer fans enough to send them to Primanti Brothers and that is saying something.